Word: maung
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Orderly and friendly, yet adamant and determined, the people of Burma pressed their demand for the three-week-old government of President Maung Maung to step down and open a path to a free, democratic state. Finally the regime began to buckle under the pressure. At an extraordinary session on Saturday, the ruling Burma Socialist Program Party gave way -- at least, partway -- to the popular clamor and declared an apparent end to the country's 26 years of one-party domination. The B.S.P.P. said elections would be held and multiple parties would participate. But the government set no date...
Previously Maung Maung and the party faithful had only agreed to discuss a referendum on one-party rule. If they hope their latest concession will buy some time, they are almost certain to be disappointed. In the wake of the election announcement, loudspeaker trucks raced through the streets, calling for new demonstrations to bring down the ruling clique. The same kind of insurgent spirit has gained the upper hand in most of the rest of the country...
Those who made the appointment intended it to be a gesture of mollification, an invitation to calm. But to much of Burma, the announcement last week that Attorney General Maung Maung, one of only two civilians in the previous Cabinet, had become the country's President was but another move in a cynical game of new man, same government...
Given the depth of popular frustration, it was thought unlikely that the bloodshed was over -- or that Maung Maung, 63, was secure in his new job. The British-trained lawyer has long-standing ties to General Ne Win, Burma's strongman from 1962 until his resignation on July 23 and the man blamed for widespread repression and an economy that lies in ruins. Maung Maung served with Ne Win in the fight to free their country of colonial domination during World War II and, after Ne Win's 1962 military coup, became Chief Justice of Burma's high court...
...fact that both Sein Lwin and Maung Maung were so closely linked to Ne Win suggests that the longtime strongman is calling the shots and is not in retirement. The belief that Maung Maung's tenure is simply an extension of Ne Win's is feeding the opposition fury. "The people are not going to stop until the entire government is thrown out," said an Australian businessman after visiting Rangoon. "The crowds feel they can't lose...